What happened last time you went to a club? Did anyone offer to buy you a drink? Maybe you accepted, or politely demurred and explained that you had a boyfriend. Either way, it felt good, didn’t it? Nice to know that you had caught someone’s eye?

But, what if, every time you go out and someone offers to buy you a drink, you look over to see their mates pointing and sniggering at you? And even if you can’t see them, you assume they’re there, in some dark corner laughing.

What if, every time you go for a dance, total strangers feel it’s acceptable to bump and grind against you, poke your stomach, and grab your breasts?

The regular nightclub is a hostile battleground

OK, most women will be the recipient of some unwanted bum gropeage at some point. But what if you were grabbed, prodded, poked and pointed at every time you went on a night out? I don’t know about you, but I’d probably start staying in.

This was exactly why stand-up comic Miranda Cheesman set upClub Indulge, a (I’m quoting the website directly here) “club night in London for plus-size people, their friends and admirers.”

Miranda set the night up in April because she was sick of the treatment she got in normal clubs and bars. “All my friends are bigger too – when we go out, guys just point and stare,” she explains.

She actually used to be 10 stone bigger than she is now, and a size 32. It was only when she started meeting other women through fat acceptance and plus-size fashion blogs that she started to gain enough confidence to actually want to lose weight. “I met all these amazing bigger women who run blogs, are stylists and fashion designers. These women who told me I could look good, be fat, be inspirational and aspirational.”

Now Miranda wants to do the same over other plus size young women, and rejects claims that by hosting these websites, she’s encouraging obesity. “It was only when I gained a bit of confidence that I actually felt like I wanted to lose weight and look good. And that’s all this is about – giving people the confidence to be themselves.’

It’s still early days, but the night, which takes place once a month in different venues across London, has developed a loyal fan base, including the aforementioned stylists, bloggers, and fashion designers. This is a glamorous crowd.

Some women partying at Club Indulge

The fat acceptance movement in American is well developed and prolific (here it’s neither), so Miranda looks across the pond for inspiration. She wants Club Indulge to become more than just a night in a bar.

“We’re setting up swap shops and pop up markets where women can swap, buy and sell plus size fashion. I’d also like to do whole weekenders, but that’s way in the future.”

There’s definitely a singles element to the proceedings – and Miranda explains something that hadn’t really occurred to me before. “A lot of smaller men like bigger women, but they wouldn’t necessarily want to approach them in a normal club in front of all their mates. And here, when a guy offers to buy a girl a drink, she knows he actually means it, so she’s much more receptive.

“People have a strange view of smaller men with bigger women. When it’s bigger men with smaller women it’s seen as a preference. When it’s the other way round, it becomes a fetish.”

I go along to Club Indulge

I decide to head along to Club Indulge, so I can see for myself. It was still early when I arrived, so it wasn’t crowded, but everyone was talking earnestly in a couple of large groups, as though they were all old mates. Some of them were, but mainly everyone was just really friendly.

Debz Aiken, 30, is an internet marketer, who also runs a plus size fashion blog Wannabe Princess. She knows Miranda through Twitter (there’s definitely a scene) and loves Club Indulge, although she says her size doesn’t put her off going to mainstream nights.

“I’d go anywhere, I don’t really care, but we all come along to this together, so it’s a good opportunity to see people.” Although she admits: “If I can’t fit past someone here, I’ll tell them to move, whereas in a normal club I’d feel like I had to squeeze past or go the long way round.”

Sonia, a community worker, wants to see a greater number of younger big women coming along. “You’re still finding yourself in your 20s, and maybe locking yourself away – it’s good for younger women to see older, confident bigger women.”

She also mentions the other advantage of Club Indulge: the men. “It’s a good way to meet men who like bigger women. They won’t approach a girl in a club, but here they can come out of the big girl closet!”

As if on cue, Ben, a 33-year-old stand up comic walked over to say hello. Ben is very much average sized – not skinny, but significantly smaller than any of the women we are talking to.

He started to explain that he’s always preferred more ‘curvaceous’ women, but Sonia interrupted. “Call us fat! People are really scared of the word, but it’s important to own it” (for the record, Miranda also favours the word 'fat', in part because the phrase BBW – Big Beautiful Women – has been commandeered by the porn industry).

Unperturbed, Ben continued: “I’m more comfortable around bigger women, because I’ve been big myself, and I probably will be again, and they get it. Those men who play pull a fatty games in clubs should be shot – they’re filth.”

And how did he find out about Club Indulge? “Woman’s Hour.”

I left the club with the overriding impression that the evening is a really fun social event, and nothing more. None of the women I spoke to said they had a particular problem going to mainstream club, mainly they saw this as an opportunity to see all their mates in one place.

Why do bigger women really need this club night?

I meet Miranda again a few weeks after the club night, and we start talking again about the fat acceptance movement in the US, and how it feels quite political in a way that hasn’t really happened here.

“I think it’s going to be a long time before throwing an egg at someone in the street, or employing bullying tactics in the work place because they’re fat is seen as a hate crime,” she says.

‘Has that ever happened to you?” I ask.

“Yes, I’ve had eggs thrown at me, people shouting fatty out of the window, people staring at me on the tube.”

I’m horrified by this – someone once shouted “sh*t t-shirt” at me out of a white van and I started hyperventilating at the bus stop. If there was a chance I was going to get pelted with eggs, or pointed at, or basically told that I was a rubbish human being every time I went out, I’d never leave the house again. Also, Miranda is absolutely lovely; the thought of someone throwing eggs at her is just awful.

Miranda also directs me to an interview she did with Radio 2 to promote the Club Indulge when it launched. Or more specifically, the Radio 2 Facebook page, which received numerous comments after the interview.

Several blokes were quick to jump onto the page and boast about their prowess at playing ‘Pull a Pig’. One squaddie boasted about the number of ‘pigs’ who used to frequent the camp, noting that “most fat girls were normally gagging for it!”

As Miranda points out, the concept of consent doesn’t come up – if a woman is fat, then she’s presumably so desperate that she’s up for anything. And if she doesn’t like it? She can always lose weight.

In a flash, I realise why Club Indulge is so important. Yes it’s a social event – an opportunity to meet up with like-minded people, and maybe even cop off. But it’s also a place where bigger (fat? Plus size?) men and women don’t have to apologise for their presence, or pray they don’t become the but of someone’s joke that evening, or, indeed get pelted with eggs. It’s important in a way that someone like me, whose looks have never deviated too far from the accepted mainstream, will never understand.

And for the record, I can also confirm it’s where you’ll find some of the most stylish, entertaining, clever and funny women in London.

The next Club Indulge event will take place in London on 27 July, tickets £5. Find out more here.